Homeowner thankful for Stand Your Ground law

AUGUSTA, Ga.---23-year-old Lakashia Walker was shot while breaking into a home on Grand Boulevard this morning at around 3 o'clock.

Investigators say this is the third time this has happened in just two weeks.

Georgia's law allows you to defend yourself as soon as you feel threatened. And that seems to be what the 84-year-old homeowner did when he says the intruder broke into his garage.

The burglar hopped Frank Sams' fence and busted through his garage door.

"The lock gave away, and she come on in," Sams said.

The World War II veteran says it was the fourth time this week. This time, he was ready.

"I'm 84 years old," he said. "I can't be putting up with this carrying on."

Sams says things like antifreeze, Clorox, and yard equipment have been disappearing. So he waited for five hours and watched as the intruder headed down this path toward his tool shed.

"That's when I shot her," he said.

Investigators say Sams was allowed to shoot thanks to a Georgia law passed in 2006.

"You have a right to protect yourself, and if that includes firearms, so be it," Jim Whitehead, the bill's cosponsor, told News 12.

If you're being attacked, as Sams felt he was, you no longer have to wait for the criminal to come after you. Now you can go after your attacker right away, and even use deadly force to protect yourself.

"It's rough," Sams said. "I try not to bother anybody. I try to do what's right."

Frank Sams says he was able to do what he though was right thanks to the new law, protecting his property, himself, and his family from a late-night intruder.

If you want to know more about that law and how it affects your family, click here to read the full text of the bill.

Lakashia Walker is in critical condition at MCG where she was taken last night.

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